Sachiniti

Went to the movies and saw’Rang De Basanti’..The byline screamed ‘a generation awakens’.That really set me thinking. Till the flick was a non pretentious Indian Movie, with a 40+ superstar playing a college student, and ‘willing suspension of disbelief urging me to resign myself at watching the tamasha with fervour, all was going fine.The moment the seriousness of a message creeped in , where a generation recoiling at the ‘system’ and their impotence at getting things ‘right’ resorted to violence and bloodshed as the only alternative, it got my (imaginary) goatee!!The makers further rationalised and logicalised their reasoning by equating the gang with the likes of our freedom fighters of yore, Bismil, Bhagatsingh and Azad..This to me was a trite outrageous..Why do we Indians tend to get overdramatic? It has always been a question that has perplexed me .The answer ofcourse lies in the ‘box office’ collections and catering to the lowest common denominator, while at the same time endeavouring to keep a semblance of serious cinema, as the motive. This itself is fallacious. Box office and ‘quality’ in India are at opposite ends of the specrtum. You cannot appease both together. One will have to be sacrificed. Without question therefore that ‘commerce’ rules ‘art’ . It will truly be a’ generation ‘ before this ‘awakening’ takes the shape of reality. Till then it will remain a pipe dream , like the rest of those dreams which never see the light of the day, because of the lack of ‘takers’. Creativity is abundant..Connoisseurs are rare. Success coupled with creativity, rarer.

We as a nation seem to have it all , but somewhere down the line seemed to have lost it all as well..Our philosophy, morals, values, ethos, sensitivity , compassion, spirituality.. all seem blurred and misguided. Why have we relegated it to the background?? Will we ever re discover the Indianness of our India? Will this be a pipe dream as well?

Ranking: ***